Muslims Take Legal Action to End FBI's Covert Watchlist
Twelve Muslim Americans, including a prominent New Jersey mayor, have initiated legal action against the US Justice Department, seeking an end to the utilization of a covert FBI watchlist they assert effectively operates as a “de facto Muslim registry.”
The lawsuit was formally filed in the US District Court in Massachusetts on Monday. In it, the plaintiffs contend that their inclusion on the Terrorist Screening Dataset by the federal government has essentially subjected them to a life of “second-class citizenship.”
The lawsuit asserts that this designation casts a perpetual cloud of suspicion over the individuals and inflicts far-reaching consequences that pervade every facet of their lives.
The plaintiffs assert a litany of grievances, including public humiliation, invasive surveillance, travel-related harassment, employment denials, and a sense of being effectively ostracized from the United States. They argue that the watchlist itself serves as an unofficial Muslim registry, with more than 98% of publicly known individuals listed being of Muslim faith.
Furthermore, the lawsuit contends that even if an individual is eventually removed from the watchlist, the detrimental effects endure for a lifetime. It states, “The stigma and harm of watchlisting placement lasts a lifetime, even if defendants eventually decide that an individual does not meet the vague, all-inclusive standard for placement and choose to remove an individual from the watchlist.”
The suit identifies several high-ranking officials as co-defendants, including Attorney General Merrick Garland, FBI Director Christopher Wray, US Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division Matthew Olsen, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, and others.
'Discriminatory' watchlist
Speaking at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) advocacy group's headquarters in Washington, D.C., staff attorney Hannah Mullen emphasized that the plaintiffs ended up on the watchlist due to the vague and questionable criteria for inclusion, which, she argued, are often used to target and discriminate against Muslims. She pointed out that more than 98% of the individuals on the leaked portions of the watchlist in 2019 were unmistakably Muslim, suggesting a deliberate pattern.
“The federal government considers the very fact of being Muslim to be suspicious and puts people on the watchlist as a result of their Muslim identity, Islamic religious beliefs, Islamic religious practices, travel to Muslim-majority countries, and other discriminatory factors. None of our clients have ever been indicted or convicted of a terrorism-related crime,” she added.
The remaining individuals on the watchlist, estimated to be 1% to 2%, consist of individuals who have been convicted of terrorist acts, including the 1995 sarin bombing in Tokyo, incarcerated Colombian revolutionaries, and an Irish Republican Army bomber, according to CAIR.
Among the plaintiffs is Mayor Mohamed Khairullah of New Jersey, who was unexpectedly uninvited from a White House Eid celebration in May. Michael Migliore, a Muslim American residing in Saudi Arabia, Nidal El-Takach, a Michigan resident, and nine others are also part of the legal action.
Mayor Khairullah, speaking to reporters in New Jersey, conveyed his frustration at not receiving official information regarding his inclusion on the leaked list and said he had not been definitively informed of his removal. He underlined the broader consequences, stating, “It violates my constitutional right as an American to due process because there are people out there who think I'm a bad person. This was caused by the U.S. government. The U.S. government needs to clear my name and the names of others who are being harassed and intimidated.”
Source: Agencies
